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Friday, March 9, 2012

Burda Style 03/2012 - 128 Skirt

Well the sun that I was so excited to see last week has gone and it is now raining and chilly! I'm soldiering on with summer sewing regardless.

I thought this skirt in the March 2012 issue of Burda was really interesting, although I rarely wear skirts with a tucked in top (I don't know why when I am happy to wear a dress?) so a bit of wardrobe experimentation will be required. Still even just a few years ago I had never worn a shift dress and now, as you no doubt already know, I love them so a bit of a shake up might be a good thing.

Here's the pattern per Burda

This is my muslin version (hence no pockets) and I liked it enough to stick a zip in and finish the edges to make it wearable, but I think it would work much better in something more drapy and weightier (but not bulkier) than my crazy raspberry hawaii print lightweight cotton. This version will be fine for very casual hot days, or for beach holidays (I have one booked for May, yay!), but I think I'll make a more sophisticated version for city wear.

Waistband close up

Back view

I often buy cotton like this when I see it at the market to use as muslin if nothing plain is available cheaply. Speaking of the market Nancy K asked if I could speak Cantonese and the answer, embarrassingly after 11 years here, is no not really, just the absolute basics. This is usually enough and like markets anywhere in the world you can go a long way with fingers and a calculator. Some of the stallholders have more than one stall or sit out the back drinking tea and playing mahjong and just leave a notice with their mobile number on to call if you want to buy anything. Not sure my Cantonese is up to that so I tend to only go to the manned stalls - the market is pretty big so in a way this makes it a bit less overwhelming.

Worn here with the Jalie empire T I made recently. It looks black here but actually picks up the wine colour in the skirt. Try and imagine sun, palm trees and blue skies....

If you decide to make this, in addition to choosing the fabric carefully, here are some tips;

This pattern has an unusual shaped front and I found it really useful to write "top" and "side seam" on my traced pieces (they are marked on the pattern). The instructions are actually OK in that they worked, but I think one step in the instructions is wrong. About 2/3 into paragraph 2 Burda says;

"Pull integrated yoke of left front skirt panel out from inside, through opening in right side seam..."

The opening is actually in the centre front seam. Once the front is in one piece it is just like any basic skirt pattern so I didn't use the instructions at all after that.

I think this could work in a jersey without the zip. I know there is a similar jersey skirt in the same magazine (#118) but it is just made from a rectangle of fabric which just sounds too easy to look good. Has anyone tried it?

32 comments:

Snap! I made this skirt, although yours looks a lot neater around the waist band. Mine looked like that until the last step - the one about pinning the the edges of the slits to the upper edge over the inside waistband (but I got very confused about what they were asking and probably completely misunderstood!)

I love your version, in that fabric it looks very pretty. I made mine out of a stripy linen (http://janessewandtell.wordpress.com/2012/03/08/twisty-skirt/) which looks quite similar to the original. I'm thinking of making another one out of some pinstriped teal coloured wool I have but having seen yours maybe a patterned fabric would be good too.

I love the crazy raspberry hawaii print in this skirt. My Burda has just arrived and I was looking at this pattern today as well as the knit version trying to work them out so I am very happy to see a review with such a great result!

I liked this skirt a lot in the magazine but got totally lost trying to understand the directions. Yours is so cute I'm just going to have to take them on faith and hope it makes sense when there is fabric in my hands. The print is so fun!

And I was also initially drawn to the jersey version, but seeing as it's a rectangle that you gather up and tie in front? Hot. mess. What were they thinking? It's like wrapping a towel around your waist and calling it a skirt!

Cute! Love the fabric, even if it is a muslin version. I was looking at this in the magazine, but couldn't decide if it was going to be too bulky, though yours looks good! I might have to try this in the future, even if the instructions are a little messy.

Great skirt! I saw it in the magazine and wasn't drawn to it, but your version is really cute. I love the dress in your prior post as well -- such a simple pattern but the finished garment is very beautiful.

So far every version of this skirt I have seen in blogland looks so nice and very flattering, just as yours does. What a fun tropical print! I'll bet it made you think of your upcoming holiday while you were sewing it.